It was Chris' own words that inspired her sister Anne to advocate for density reporting legislation in their resident state of Ohio. Anne was embarking on a new journey which was foreign to her, the political culture of breast density reporting legislative advocacy.

Physicians have an ethical responsibility to truthfully communicate the current scientific facts with their patients. Additionally, they need to listen to and respect patients' preferences even when it may collide with their own preferences.

Unfortunately the article, at a glance, may add to the growing perception among journalists, primary care physicians who may not read below the paper's title, and others -- including many ordinary women -- that mammography's effectiveness has been, again, disproved.

This conclusion demands a radical re-thinking of the tenets of the breast cancer awareness movement. Mammograms don't solve the fact that around 30 percent of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer will develop metastatic disease, often after the mythical five year mark, and die from breast cancer.

A study denouncing the value of mammography tore through the news cycle last week, leading many women to once again question the need for these breast cancer screenings. What was left out of many of the media reports are serious doubts about the validity of this study.

Shirley Temple was one of the first celebrities to acknowledge having cancer and the first to crusade for breast cancer awareness and early diagnosis. She must always be remembered as an important cancer crusader.

It will take a diverse population's full participation in well-designed studies to provide women with a better answer to the question, "What should I do?" Until then, we should err on the side of early detection and early treatment.

As the D.C. media feigns apoplexy over enrollment rates in the Affordable Care Act, the rest of the country will awaken to a world in which people with pre-existing illnesses will be covered and people will not live in constant fear of being an illness away from bankruptcy.

An intriguing new study found that the vast majority of deaths from breast cancer occur among women who didn't have routine mammography. The paper's method is flawed, and conclusions limited. But sometimes an imperfect study can hint at real insights.

Mammography will remain a controversial issue because it is an imperfect tool involving ionizing radiation. Let's move beyond this method that is decades old and move forward with an early detection method for breast cancer that will not increase a women's cancer risk at all.

The news that 24-year-old Allyn Rose, Miss District of Columbia in this year's Miss America competition, is planning to have both of her breasts removed in the near future is the latest case of what we might call "extreme breast cancer prevention."

Mammography specifically, and cancer screening in general, is often something of a muddle. We should acknowledge the trade-offs, work toward better screening methods, and in the interim -- muddle through.